The Two Leaders

Should I help? I’m not at fault, the one who has the item should be responsible… But it’d betroublesome if that item went into someone else’s hands. Plus, if she gets arrested…

Nfirea knew that Ainz and Momon were the same person. If he heard about this situation from her later on, he would think that Ainz had abandoned her.

There’s definitely going to be a problem… It doesn’t matter what happens to other useless humans,but he’s a valuable one. There’s a saying, “turn crisis into opportunities”. If I help her, Nfirea willbe thankful and I’ll be able to chain him down with obligation.

Ainz spoke in a tone that he thought sounded very insightful.

“There’s no need to worry about it. I know very well what kind of person she is. She’s definitely not someone who would cause trouble, so please let her go. Can you do that?”

“Of course. If it’s an acquaintance of Momon from ‘Darkness’, even a criminal would be able to enter the city freely if you vouched for them.”

“Is that so. Then, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but please let her in. And I apologize once again, but can you let us, ‘Darkness’, in as well?”

♦ ♦ ♦

Ainz returned to Narberal and Hamsuke with the permit.

“I have the permit. Let’s go in.”

He passed by those standing while riding on top of Hamsuke. He had grabbed the attention of those waiting, but after they spotted the black armour, giant swords, Hamsuke and Narberal, they looked away, as though they had accepted it. They were keenly aware of the clear difference in status between them and Ainz.

He entered E-Rantel while receiving deep, respectful bows from the soldiers.

“Nabe, I have something to request of you.”

“I stand ready to receive any command.”

It was little unsightly for an adventuring comrade to show such signs of loyalty in middle of a city, but Ainz knew it was useless, so he continued.

“A girl called Enri will shortly pass the gate with a cart. Go and discreetly ask her why she’s in E-Rantel.”

Next, Ainz looked for a place to hide himself. It was to avoid further conversation with Enri.

He looked around and decided that a nearby stack of wooden boxes were high enough for him to hide behind and ordered Hamsuke there. The soldiers who were working behind the boxes were surprised by Ainz and Hamsuke’s sudden appearance.

“Soldiers, a moment of your time, if I may? I am curious as to what’s in these boxes.”

Ainz confirmed that he was not visible from the gate and asked the soldiers. In reality, he had no interest in the wooden boxes, but only asked because he did not want to get kicked out as a hindrance.

“Ah, yes, it’s an honour for Momon of Darkness to take interest. This is a vegetable named ‘kinshu’

from Grandel. This is—”

Ainz replied with “Is that so” or “Interesting” to the soldier who explained earnestly. His replies were insincere, but the soldier ignored it and carried on. After Ainz had learned quite a lot on how to cook kinshu, Nabe appeared from behind him.

“—I’m sorry to cut you off. Your explanations were very helpful, but my comrade is back, so please excuse me.”

Ainz announced to the soldier and trotted off on Hamsuke.

“So, what did she say?”

“She first wants me to convey her thanks to Momon-san. She had three objectives. First was to sell the herbs she gathered, the second was to check if anyone at the temple wanted to immigrate and the third was to go to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“Adventurer’s Guild? What kind of quest is she trying to put in?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t ask her that. Should I find her and beat her until she spills the beans?”

“No, don’t do that. We need to go to the Adventurer’s Guild anyways. We should be able to find out through the guild.”

It was probably not something like wanting to thank Ainz Ooal Gown directly. If that was the case, Lupusregina visited the village regularly—

“Speaking of which, Nabe. Did you receive any special report from Lupusregina?”

Ainz frowned —even though he did not have any skin on his face— when he saw Narberal shake her head.

Originally, he had stationed the Shadow Demons at Carne Village, but for the purpose of building a good relationship with them, he had sent Lupusregina instead. He had ordered her to send a report if any problem occurred, but there was not any report so far. So he decided there was nothing problematic happening over at Carne village thus far.

There would not have been a need to report that Enri went to E-Rantel alone, but uneasiness sprouted like clouds deep inside Ainz.

“I thought of Lupusregina as a hard worker. What do you think, Narberal?”